Reverend Doctor John Black

REVEREND DOCTOR JOHN BLACK

Minister of the Gospel at Winnipeg in Manitoba: He was the first Presbyterian minister in the Northwest, and founded a number of schools and churches in and around the Red River Settlement; During the Red River Rebellion of 1869-70 he preached for the preservation of law and order but against open resistance to Louis Riel and the provisional government

Reverend John Black is the eldest son of William Black and his wife Margaret Halliday. He was born on 8 January 1818, at Eskdalemuir in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Memorable Manitobans

He taught school for a short time in Cumberland, England, before emigrating with his parents in 1841 to Bovina Township, New York, where he taught school. He also continued his education in Delhi, New York, with the intention of entering the ministry. Memorable Manitobans

In 1844 he was one of the students in the first class of the new Knox College, Toronto. He graduated in 1848 and spent the next three years as a missionary in various places in eastern Canada. He was ordained on 31 July 1851, after which he came to Red River to take up what was to become his life’s work. He opened a church building at Kildonan and soon established a school beside it. That same year he married Henrietta Ross (1830-1873), the daughter of Alexander Ross. Memorable Manitobans

Kildonan Church

Just prior to his arrival the Hudson’s Bay Company had granted the Presbyterian community £150 and a plot of land at Frog Plain (about five miles north of Upper Fort Garry), in lieu of its rights in the Church of England’s Upper Church (later St John’s Church), where it had worshipped. On this site at Frog Plain the Kildonan church was completed in 1853. In 1868 he built a church in the village of Winnipeg.

Manitoba College

The Reverend Doctor John Black's interest in educationled him to found Manitoba College in 1851. This college later became the University of Manitoba. He resigned from the Board of Education of Manitoba in 1876 in opposition to the efforts of some of his Protestant colleagues to dissolve the province’s denominational school system. Black received an honorary doctorate from Queen’s College in 1876. He served on the Board of Education (Manitoba) from its inception until a few years before his death. Memorable Manitobans

The Red River Rebellion

The Reverend Doctor John Black's Kildonan church was used as an assembly point for forces opposing Louis Riel in February 1870, although, Black was active with other clergymen in attempts to keep peace between the English and French speaking sections in the settlement. He was present at the mass meeting held at Upper Fort Garry on 20 January 1870 and was appointed to a committee that was to arrange for the election of the English delegates to the “Convention of Forty,” which met six days later. SCRIBD: Henrietta Ross

Death

Reverend John Black died at Kildonan, Manitoba on 11 February 1882. He is commemorated by John Black Avenue, John Black School, and John Black Memorial Church. There are papers in the United Church Archives at Toronto, and the Archives of Manitoba. Memorable Manitobans

First Marriage

Reverend John Black married Henrietta Ross. They were married on 21 December 1853. She died in 1873.

Children of First Marriage

1. William Ross Black
2. Sarah Margaret Black
3. Alexander Ross Black
4. James Hunter Black
5. Robert Burns Black
6. Donald Matthew Black
7. John Henry Black
8. Ann Isabelle Black
9. Henrietta Ross Black

Second Marriage

Reverend John Black married Laurenda Bannatyne They were married on 9 June 1874. She died on 11 February 1882 at Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada.

Biographical Accounts

1. Memorable Manitobans
2. .Dictionary of Canadian Biography
3. A History of the John Black Memorial Church
4. The Winnipeg Time Machine: The Reverend John Black
5. SCRIBD: Henrietta Ross